Thursday, 16 January 2014

In the movie the Lone Survivor an American Navy SEALs team is ambushed during a secret operation in rural Afghanistan. This ambush lead by the Taliban killed 19 American soldiers leaving only one Navy SEAL alive. This movie is based on a true story depicted by the real life survivor Marcus Luttrel. The main reason Marcus was the only survivor from the mission was because he was protected by a group of Taliban opposed villagers. These people protected Marcus from the heavily armed Taliban fighters because of a 2,000 year old code of honour these rural Pashtun villagers have. This is called the Pashtunwali code which is based on ten principles of hospitality, asylum, justice, bravery, loyalty, righteousness, respect, honour, courage and the protection of women. These strangers sacrificed their own lives to protect Marcus all because of their cultural pact and beliefs. This shows the commitment the Pashtun people have to their belief in their own culture and Pashtunwali code. These villagers followed their code for no benefit to them and saved the life of an American soldier out of their own generosity and honour.

Wednesday, 15 January 2014

I believe that car insurance companies are unfairly charging new drivers by categorizing everyone as a bad driver. This is especially true with male teenage drivers, they have some of the highest insurance costs compared to all other drivers. They have the highest costs because on average these drivers are most likely to be involved in serious accidents. Insurance costs can be slightly lowered if a new driver attends a provincially approved driving school but these prices are still higher compared to female new drivers and other drivers. I believe that young drivers should be individually tested or evaluated to determine their monthly insurance costs. It is not fair for a new driver like me to have to pay the same amount of money as a dangerous, inexperienced male driver that has barely passed their G2 test. I think that the system could be improved by taking a second test for the insurance company to decide on how much insurance they pay. This would benefit the companies because they aren't taking as large of a risk on each new driver they will know the performance of each customer. It will also greatly benefit the new drivers especially the male ones because their insurance costs could easily be lowered to a more fair price for them.